darren gersh, nbr, washington. >> tom: for more on the fiscal cliff negotiations, susie spoke with a leading democrat a short while ago, senator kent conrad of north dakota. >> susie: senator can rad thank you for joining us. let me begin our conversation by asking you, what are the chances that we will get a fiscal cliff deal by the end of this year? wince think they're reasonably good. all the building blocks are in place. at this point really people just have to choose from the options that are available. and it's hugely consequence for the country if we fail. so i remain opposite sdns-- optimisc. >> we heard dramatic sound bites when do we start rung out of time and risk going over the cliff? how much time dow need to get an agreement? >> well, realistically, if an agreement were reached in the next several weeks there would be time to get all of the language put together to have it implemented. so there is still significant time to get this agreement reached. >> as you know house speaker boehner was calling on democrats today to propose specific spending cuts to entitlement prog